Friday, August 31, 2007

If we are committed to following the principles of Scripture, I believe we are led to think that the biblical standard for establishing truth has been met, and that the senator’s resignation is appropriate.

Cybercast News is reporting that Sen. Larry Craig is expected to resign today, under intense pressure from the national leadership of the Republican Party.

If so, it will represent the end of a long and distinguished career in public service. Sen. Craig has faithfully advocated for policies that have protected the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of marriage and the family, and in so doing has created a legacy that no one can take from him.

Idahoans will always have reason to be grateful to the senator for the leadership he has displayed on issues that are important to the pro-faith, pro-family community.

If it is regrettably necessary for the senator to step down, and I continue to believe it is, that will not lessen the value of what he has contributed to America’s public life...

ON YESTERDAY’S AUDIO TAPE

I’ve had a number of exchanges with members of the Alliance who are sympathetic to the senator, and feel that perhaps, based on the release of yesterday’s audio tape, he was railroaded into a confession.

The analogy they have frequently used is that of being intimidated into pleading guilty to a speeding violation.

But I remind them we are talking about something far more significant than a traffic violation. When I ask them -- men of proven character all - if they would plead guilty to a false charge of cruising for anonymous gay sex, a charge which would ruin their reputations forever, and destroy their careers and possibly their families, they are uniformly horrified at the thought. Without exception, they affirm that there is no possible set of circumstances under which they could imagine doing that.

Although the audio tape has the senator defending his actions, his guilty plea came after the conversation released yesterday. In other words, the senator’s last word of legal substance on the subject is an admission of guilt, which takes the matter out of the “he said/he said” category.

If the senator had, from the first moment, steadfastly insisted on his innocence, refused to enter a guilty plea, and fought the charge, I would defend the senator and ask everyone to wait for more information, because the biblical standard requires two witnesses to establish the truth of a matter.

If the senator had refused to enter a guilty plea, we would have just one witness to what happened, the testimony of the arresting officer, and we would biblically be required to suspend judgment until a second witness stepped forward...

If we are committed to following the principles of Scripture, I believe we are led to think that the biblical standard for establishing truth has been met, and that the senator’s resignation is appropriate.

It's official. The fat lady is singing. Iowans thought we were living in a representative republic but actually judges rule Iowa. In his infinite wisdom, Judge Robert Hanson ruled that Iowa's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which allowed marriage only between a man and a woman, violated the constitutional rights of due process and equal protection of six gay couples who had sued.

From "First Gay Couple Legally Married in Iowa" by Henry C. Jackson, posted 8/31/07 at ChicagoTribune.comDES MOINES, Iowa - A minister married two men outside his Iowa home Friday morning, sealing the state's first legal same-sex wedding. Less than 24 hours earlier, a judge had thrown out Iowa's ban on gay marriage.

"This is it. We're married. I love you," Fritz told McQuillan after the ceremony on the front lawn of the Unitarian minister's home in Des Moines.

...The window of opportunity could be narrow, though.

County attorney John Sarcone promised a quick appeal, and he immediately asked Hanson for a stay that would prevent gays and lesbians from getting marriage licenses until the appeal was resolved. A hearing on the stay request is likely next week, said Camilla Taylor, an attorney with Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization.

Lambda Legal, the nation's oldest legal organization focusing on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender advocacy, has this advice for gay men seeking sexual liasons in public parks and restrooms. (Apparently Senator Larry Craig did not see this in time):

If you cruise in parks, bathrooms or other spaces open to public view, trust your instincts, be aware of your surroundings -- and know your rights...

CRUISING SAFELY

Always carry identification in case you get hurt or arrested.

Remember cops may be "cruising" too.Be aware that undercover cops may be “cruising” to arrest you...Talk to your lawyer if you think you were set up...

Understand that many laws could be used against you.Thanks to a Lambda Legal U.S. Supreme Court win, all laws that banned consensual sex by adults in private, including oral and anal sex, have been struck down...

Ask to talk to a lawyerDon’t make any decisions without talking to a lawyer first. The biggest mistakes you can make are panicking, trying to get it over with quickly by “confessing,”...

Know your legal optionsMake sure you understand the charges and discuss all the possible outcomes with your lawyer, including the consequences of any plea or conviction...

Get support.It’s okay to use anonymous hotlines to ask questions, and talk about your experience. Call Lambda Legal and your local legal or anti-violence group for help and information on finding an attorney.

Ask your lawyer questions, including:

Is it possible to get the charges dismissed because of conduct by the police?

Don't have sex in public. It is illegal, immoral and quite frankly disgusting. If you feel ashamed that's actually a GOOD sign. Don't call an attorney, call on the only One who can truly set you free...

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." --Jesus Christ from John 8:36

Thursday, August 30, 2007

In covering the 2008 presidential campaign, the network morning news shows are "overwhelmingly focused on Democrats, [and] they are actively promoting the Democrats' liberal agenda," according to a study released today by the conservative Media Research Center (MRC).

The study examined 517 campaign segments on the morning news shows broadcast on ABC, CBS and NBC in the first seven months of 2007. It found that the shows covered Democrats "nearly twice as much" as Republicans and framed interview questions from a liberal perspective most of the time.

The study was produced by the MRC's News Analysis Division. The MRC is the parent organization of Cybercast News Service.

The study found that 55 percent of campaign stories on ABC's "Good Morning America," CBS's "The Early Show" and NBC's "Today" focused on Democratic candidates while only 29 percent focused on Republicans. The remaining 16 percent were classified as "mixed/independent."

When challenged regarding their unwillingness to enforce their own policy regarding the sale of porn on military bases, the Defense Department declared that about 10 titles — including Playboy and Penthouse — did not meet the definition of sexually explicit and would continue to be sold...

The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1996 forbidding the sale of sexually explicit material on military bases, but it turns out the military uses a lenient definition of what constitutes such material.

When family advocates got wind that the law wasn’t being followed, Pat Trueman of the Alliance Defense Fund said they immediately took action.

“About 40 pro-family leaders sent a letter to (Defense) Secretary Gates asking that he enforce the law," he told Family News in Focus.

This week the letter was answered. Instead of pulling the material off of shelves, the Defense Department declared that about 10 titles — including Playboy and Penthouse — did not meet the definition of sexually explicit and would continue to be sold.

"It’s something that’s patently ridiculous on its face," Trueman said. "The Department of Defense wants to sell pornography, and even though the law prohibits them, they found a way to do it.”

Daniel Weiss, senior analyst of media and sexuality for Focus on the Family Action, said he wants the military to be held accountable for its decision.

“If you’re going to find that Penthouse is not sexually explicit," he said, "you really need to find out who’s on this review board making these decisions.”

Weiss said the material causes great distress in military marriages.

“Talk to any chaplain who’s deployed overseas or here domestically, and they’ll tell you that pornography is a big problem in the military.”

It's hard to understand how the DOD can possibly defend this. Do they believe this creates a healthy atmosphere for our soldiers - especially now since some of them are young women?

By constantly lowering the bar on decency, educators are intentionally playing a game of ideological limbo with our children's moral well-being as they seek to create little moral relativists in their own iconoclastic self-image. And they're robbing kids of great reading like Oliver Twist, Treasure Island and many others in the process.

Illinois School District 126, covering Alsip, Hazelgreen and Oak Lawn, has defended its choice to assign summer reading to 12- and 13-year-olds that is replete with harsh profanity and references to teen sex (even teen sex with adults).

Prairie Junior High School's required reading list for rising 8th graders gave children six books to choose from over the summer. Parents have complained that three of the six books contain adult content which is highly age-inappropriate. Those complaints, however, have fallen on deaf ears. At a recent school board meeting, school board members said they intend to continue assigning the books.

To add insult to injury, the school didn't even have the courtesy to warn these kids - or their parents - about the adult content within the assigned reading. And parents are understandably furious. If one of my daughters came to me at twelve having been assigned this smut, I'd be ticked-off too.

Whatever happened to classics like Ivanhoe or Up From Slavery? Sure, some of them may even contain limited profanity and adult content, but there's a big difference. The profane content in Fat Kid isn't sporadic. It's pervasive and gratuitous. The book has 110 pages containing the F-word and other profanities, and there are multiple crude sexual references.

With all the objectionable material children are subjected to on the internet, on television and in theatres, it's outrageous that educators, who are charged with helping to mold the minds of these 12- and 13-year-olds, would willingly - if not eagerly - contribute to their moral degradation by pushing this kind of vulgarity on them. It amounts to educational malpractice, and School District 126 should have its mouth washed out with soap.

I telephoned Robert Berger, superintendent of schools for District 126, fully expecting him to assure me that this foolishness would be remedied. But instead, his response was defiant, defensive and arrogant.

Berger refused to answer me when I asked him several times if District 126 believed that such mature content was appropriate for children. (I wonder; if it's so appropriate, then why wouldn't he defend it?)

I asked Berger if one could infer that the district found the material appropriate since it was assigned to children. He quipped, "Infer whatever you want to."

No one's calling for a book burning here, but c'mon, these are just kids. Does District 126 have any standards of decency at all?

Unfortunately the actions of District 126 are symptomatic of a metastasizing moral malady within our larger system of public education. Kids in public schools across the country are constantly inundated with material which promotes profanity, homosexuality, promiscuity and abortion.

The agenda is pushed and the curriculum set by leftist groups like the National Education Association (NEA), the ACLU and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). Even the American Library Association (ALA) gave Fat Kids its "Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature." The book also received a rave review from America's largest homosexual activist literary organization, Lambda Literary Foundation.

By constantly lowering the bar on decency, educators are intentionally playing a game of ideological limbo with our children's moral well-being as they seek to create little moral relativists in their own iconoclastic self-image. And they're robbing kids of great reading like Oliver Twist, Treasure Island and many others in the process.

How low will they go?

By the looks of things in Alsip, Illinois, they're not going to bottom out anytime soon.

When pro-gay activists are in power true tolerance and diversity will not be permitted. Pro-gay ideology is too fragile to 'tolerate' it. We cannot be allowed to upset the house of cards they are constructing for themselves with the truth...

Angry homosexual activists harassed and assaulted ex-homosexuals at the Arlington County Fair last week, according to an ex-gay educational and support group.

Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) reports its volunteers were distributing education materials on same-sex attraction and awareness of ex-homosexuals at their fair booth. Homosexual activists approached them and created a disturbance, spewing obscenities and dashing materials from the exhibit table.

The group demanded that PFOX leave the fairgrounds, recognize "same-sex spouses" and rejected arguments that homosexuals could change their sexual orientation, although they admitted they knew heterosexuals who had done the same.

The confrontation escalated after one activist struck a PFOX ex-gay volunteer after becoming infuriated over the man's testimony about leaving the homosexual lifestyle. A police officer then ejected the activist from the fairgrounds, although the ex-homosexual volunteer declined to press charges citing the example of Jesus Christ.

The incident, while not uncommon in PFOX experience, continues to highlight homosexual activists' rejection of tolerance and equal access ideas opposing and competing with the homosexual agenda.

PFOX said that several homosexuals had identified themselves as TEACHERS (emphasis ours) and would make sure that PFOX ex-homosexual materials would not reach teenagers in schools as pro-homosexual materials do.

After a conservative Mormon student informed his professor that he could not help a teenage boy embrace homosexuality, the professor decided that Latter Day Saints Family Services was no longer a good place for practicum students to work AND none of the student's hours worked there would count towards his degree...

There seems to be no end to the destruction coming from the gay rights movement. Consider the following account of a two students in the Marriage and Family Therapy program at Purdue:

In the master’s program referred to in part one of this series, all students are required to take a class in “sex therapy.” A significant portion of this class focuses on “visual desensitization.” That means the professors show a lot of videos and pictures of people having sex. Of course, students are “free” to excuse themselves from class if the sex scenes make them uncomfortable. However, students know that if they were to do so, they would face repercussions later.

...On April 14, 2004, Mr. Ford (a Mormon student) visited Professor Trepper’s office to ask questions about applying the information from the sex therapy class to different types of clients. He wanted to know how he could apply this knowledge to a patient who has a traditional view of morality - one who follows Biblical moral teachings. As an example, he mentioned the therapeutic approach called “sensate focus,” which uses systematic desensitization to help couples achieve coitus. As it teaches individuals to masturbate, a religious person might not use this technique without violating his religion.

In response, Professor Trepper asked Mr. Ford whether he would conduct “gay affirmative therapy” or “gay couple therapy.” Mr. Ford responded that he would do neither because he did not feel competent to do so. Both clearly violated his faith tradition so, instead, he said he would refer clients requesting such treatment to other therapists. Trepper responded saying: “I just don’t know whether you can even be in the program.”

Next, Professor Wetchler began discussing the merits of Mr. Ford’s LDS faith. When Mr. Ford noted how his mission work had helped solidify that faith, Wetchler dismissed his idea saying Mr. Ford had been raised in an “insulated society.”

No Professor Wetchler. We have examined your point of view and found it to be both illogical and immoral...

Another Mormon student was told that he could no longer help a teen who wanted to overcome his attraction to other men but must help the client embrace the desires he was trying to extinguish...

...Mr. West (the student) then asked the learned professor whether therapists are ethically bound to help a client reach his goals rather than to advance the therapist’s political agenda. And he further asked Professor Hecker if she would want Mr. West to change his views concerning the matter simply because she disagreed with him. The good professor was visibly shaken by the question.

The sad fact is, Purdue is not alone. Madness is gripping our institutions of 'higher' learning. Helping someone overcome homosexuality is seen as unethical in these circles - since in their distorted worldview, homosexual behavior is perfectly natural, normal and healthy. One must instead, help a patient to embrace same-sex attraction and behavior. Given the fact that 71% of HIV infection in our country is attributable to men having sex with men, there must be a lawsuit in here somewhere...

At the risk of stating the obvious, a Christian counselor, in good conscience, cannot help people become comfortable with sin...(even if there weren't such dire consequences as injury, disease, depression, promiscuity, etc.)

Another consideration:

Once the belief that homosexuality is on par with race is codified into law (through ENDA or same-sex marriage) LICENSES and TAX-EXEMPTION for Biblically based counseling and counseling organizations will probably be in jeopardy...

A Pentagon advisor and national defense analyst thinks it's hypocritical for the Pentagon to consider disciplinary action against four generals and three other officers for helping a Christian group in the production of a fundraising video.

According to CNN, the Pentagon's inspector general has found that the seven officers engaged in misconduct three years ago when they appeared in a promotional video for an evangelical group called Christian Embassy, which was founded by Dr. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ. Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis (U.S. Army - Ret.) says he knows Christian Embassy very well, having attended the group's Wednesday morning prayer sessions.

Maginnis believes this investigation is a witch hunt pushed by a group that calls itself the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. "This is an ACLU-type hit on the Pentagon insisting that the inspector general conduct an investigation to get to the bottom of whether or not generals improperly used their influence with regard to a particular ministry," he says.

The retired Army officer senses a hypocritical nature in the Pentagon's reaction to the situation.

"There have been others in very senior positions, both in and out of uniform, who have gone to some of these Islamic centers and have bent over backwards to accommodate Islamists," he states, noting one such appearance by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England, who in early June joined in the dedication of a new Islamic prayer center at the Quantico Marine Corps Base.

Monday, August 27, 2007

One scurrilous tactic that homosexual activists use to censor conservative voices is to notify employers whose employees have, in their free time, expressed traditional views on homosexuality in public forums like radio interviews, blog comments, or letters to the editor. I and others have experienced this deeply troubling, anti-liberal, and anti-American phenomenon. The point must be made that traditional views on homosexuality are not equivalent to racism, and homosexuality is not equivalent to race. Expressing the view that homosexual conduct, no matter what the origin of homosexual impulses, is immoral is not hateful and does not imply that those who identify as homosexual have less intrinsic worth than other humans.

Some public school employees who have experienced this bullying tactic have been “persuaded” to self-censor even outside their workplace. This demand for compliance constitutes a troubling abridgment of speech rights and an equally troubling intrusion into private lives. We must be prepared for these unethical demands for conformity and resist them, even when non-compliance results in persecution.

Some public school administrations believe they have the right to dictate the content and context of employee speech outside of the workplace. They believe they have the right to insist that employees refrain from making public statements that may generate controversy for the employer or that make students feel “unsafe,” by which they really mean uncomfortable. They are seriously in error. Public school administrations are wrong ethically and legally when suggesting that employees refrain from making political or moral statements on controversial topics in a public medium. They have no right to determine what kinds of public statements their employees make or where they make them.

As private citizens, teachers have a perfect right to be interviewed on the radio, write letters to the editors of newspapers, comment on blogs, speak at public protests, be interviewed by print reporters, or appear on television to discuss socio-political issues. If others identify where these teachers work, and if some students or parents dislike their views, that's unfortunate, but that is a messy fact of life in a participatory democracy. Are employees who oppose the war, or oppose capital punishment, or support gay marriage, or support partial birth abortions obligated to refrain from public engagement because others may object? And we must remember, the National Education Association, to which many public school teachers belong, has long made public statements on a number of highly controversial issues including homosexuality. So, it's really just conservative teachers who are expected to self-censor even in their private lives. But, despite the wishes of public school administrators, teachers in public schools retain the full complement of civil rights, including speech rights. Not even the objections of parents and students can abrogate this central civil right. Free speech does not come with guarantees of agreement. It's messy.

The right of employers to shape or circumscribe faculty speech ends at the schoolhouse door, with the exception, of course, of slanderous, libelous, or defamatory speech directed at the school or school personnel. How meaningless, hollow, and hypocritical it is for educators to teach students about the importance of civic engagement and standing firm on principle (like Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr.) even in the face of demands for conformity, and then tell faculty to silence themselves in order to avoid controversy. Is that nothing else but an inappropriate demand for conformity? It's frightening that so many teachers are willing to sacrifice their free speech rights in the service of avoiding controversy for their employer or persecution for themselves. If all public school employees capitulate, then the bullies have won. All the intolerant bullies need to do is generate controversy, and conservatives self-censor. We as Christians have a number of role models including Paul who did not did not allow the prospect of controversy or the threat of persecution determine the contexts in which he spoke or the content of his speech.

Administrations express concern about the effect of teacher comments made outside of work on students in class, focusing exclusively on student discomfort. Teachers must understand that the presence of student discomfort does not mean that something wrong or inappropriate has been done. If student discomfort is allowed to determine what is said in school, teachers will be prevented from expressing disapproval of a host of behaviors including drug use, alcohol use, aggression, or promiscuity because some kids will feel uncomfortable. But even more problematic is the fact that teachers are now expected to refrain from making moral statements outside of their workplace.

Moreover, student comfort is not the only consideration of import within the academic setting. There are other values of even greater importance that must be considered. First, students need to see that the First Amendment right of free speech is truly valued within academia. Second, conservative students too need role models; they need to see that men and women of compassion, intelligence, and courage participate vigorously in the thorny task of shaping our culture, and do so even in the face of personal and professional persecution. And third, liberal students and homosexual students need to see that those who espouse traditional views really don't hate. How can any of these goals be achieved, if everyone capitulates in order to avoid controversy. I am not recommending that anyone generate controversy just for the sake of controversy. I am suggesting that we all speak the truth boldly in order to please God and help "hold back the effects of the fall."

Sexual orientation and sexual identity are topics that cannot be discussed without generating controversy.

What will the cultural and political climate be for our children and grandchildren in a decade or two if all conservatives decline from engaging in public dialogue because doing so generates controversy? No more letters to the editor, no more radio or television interviews, no more public protests or petitions -- that's the goal. One of the goals of homosexualists is to render it impossible for conservative views to be spoken; and all manner of rhetorical manipulation and bullying tactics will be used to achieve that malevolent end. Don't misunderstand, I don't think all administrators are malevolent or even minimally aware of the spiritual battle in which they are unwitting participants, but Christians are aware of it. What we desperately need are gracious, intelligent, articulate, thoughtful, faithful, wise servants who will speak the truth in love and stand firm in the face of persecution.

What today are considered legitimate topics for public debate may tomorrow be considered highly controversial. Just thirty years ago, it would have been unimaginable that statements of disapproval of homosexuality would be considered controversial. And it would have been unimaginable that a public school teacher would be expected to abstain from making those statements publicly in their free time. What if in a decade abortion, or euthanasia, or cloning are as controversial as sexual orientation is today? Imagine that some years hence, it is controversial to claim that salvation comes exclusively through Jesus Christ. Already many find that to be a highly objectionable claim. Will Christians then refrain from making public statements about their belief in the exclusivity of Christ's claims? Will Christians agree never to comment on a blog, be interviewed by a print or broadcast journalist, or write a letter to the editor? And most importantly, does a steadfast refusal to speak the truth please God?

Laurie HigginsLaurie is a public school teacher and writer who practices what she preaches...

An effort by researchers to find out which cities have the biggest drug problems has led to a startling connection — drug abuse correlates with gambling.

A study conducted by Oregon State University and the University of Washington took the novel approach of testing wastewater for traces of methamphetamines. Researchers took samples from 10 unnamed cities and found those with casinos showed five times more drug use.

At a news conference at City Hall this week, Jim Naugle, the mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida has called on homosexual men to end their public sexual encounters in order to curb the local HIV/AIDS rate. "We want to put a stop to that activity," he said.

Since his first public comments in July, Naugle has been attacked on all sides for being nearly the only US public figure to oppose on moral grounds the encroachment of homosexual activity in his town.

Now Naugle is in the news again for his determination to clean up Fort Lauderdale's beaches and tourist spots that he says are a health threat. The tourist destinations, he says, are being used as "cruising" scenes for homosexual men looking for the anonymous sexual encounters that characterize the "gay" subculture. This activity, he says, is one of the major factors in the spread of the HIV virus in the area.

"Our goal isn't to arrest people," the Mayor said. "Our goal is to stop the activity…and we're going to save some lives in the process." Naugle said that eight men have been arrested in two years for having sex in restrooms at public parks.

Two pro-abortion protestors were arrested on misdemeanor battery charges, for harassing a group of pro-life witnesses outside a Planned Parenthood abortion facility during a prayer vigil on Sunday.

The Chicago Tribune, normally silent on pro-life events, reports that 24-year old Shawn R. Pawlak and 27 year old Kelly L. Maha, shouted obscenities at pro-life witnesses who were peacefully participating in the 24-hour, 40-day prayer rally to prevent the newly-constructed abortion facilities from opening near Chicago this fall.

A friend sent me a link to this commentary, "Why I Fought for Two Boys I Never Met," by Dennis Prager. It tells the story of two thirteen year-old boys in Oregon who inadvertently got on the wrong side of some authorities who genuflect to the high priestesses of feminism when they created something called "slap butt day" at Patton Middle School in McMinnville, Oregon.

The boys were arrested and the district attorney brought FELONY SEX CHARGES against them.

This is truly unbelievable and unconscionable. Of course it's not appropriate to slap girls on the behind, but that's what junior high boys do: inappropriate things -- all manner of inappropriate things. They're fascinated with fire, and flatulence, and females -- not necessarily in that order. They climb too high, ride too fast, and jump off roofs. They talk inappropriately about girls, slap tushes, and, in my day, snapped bra straps. And that's why parents and teachers have the important tasks of parenting and teaching. If adolescents engaged in no inappropriate behavior, they would be weird.

Girls are not exempt from inappropriate and even raunchy behavior and talk either. Teenage girls are gossipy, mean, provocative, and vulgar. That's why we don't set them loose on the world at thirteen.

Unfortunately, the Oregon boys' immaturity (or rather, the appropriate level of maturity for thirteen year-olds) led them to engage in behavior involving one of the sacred cows of contemporary American culture: feminist understandings of gender relations. To feminists, adolescent boy teasing that touches on male-female sexual differences is inextricably linked to the patriarchal oppression and abuse of women by men, and, therefore, any and all measures are legitimate when rooting out this incipient evil.

Boys need to learn how to treat girls respectfully, and girls need to learn what precisely to do with the power their sexuality has on boys. This is a process that contemporary culture does nothing to facilitate.

Angels in America is filled with obscenity, primarily forms of f**k. And although it addresses forgiveness (albeit not in a Christian sense, but rather, interpersonal forgiveness), compassion, community, and AIDS, it is primarily a pro-”gay” treatise with heavy-handed leftist politicking (e.g., explicit criticism of the Reagan administration) and sacrilege.

The plot revolves around two couples: married Mormon couple Harper and Joe whose marriage is disintegrating in large measure due to Joe’s repressed homosexuality, which he eventually acts upon: and a homosexual couple, Louis and Prior, who has AIDS. Louis leaves Prior due to his AIDS and has a month-long affair with Harper’s husband Joe. Roy Cohn — the infamous, unscrupulous, foul-mouthed, closeted, Republican lawyer — is also a central character who dies of AIDS.

Then there is the black, homosexual, drag queen nurse with the heart of gold, Belize, and the Angel with eight vaginae whose visits prompt sexual arousal and orgasm. Heaven is a dreary place that looks like San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and people sit around on crates playing cards. The Angels say that God has abandoned man.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

The school board arrived at the meeting with a refusal WRITTEN BEFORE even hearing parents' concerns about middle school reading material containing gratuitous profanity and vulgarity...

Over a dozen parents in District 126 thought that perhaps the school board, elected to represent them, might honor their request for decency in summer reading materials for their middle school children. They were wrong.

According to concerned mother, Karen Lukes, the school board claimed that the message of overcoming despair contained in "Fat Boy Rules the World" outweighed all the vulgarity and profanity.

Are there not books that convey that same message without the filthy language and themes?

In good literature, aren't the words used to convey a message of nearly equal importance to the message itself?

What does this sort of reading material example to children about acceptable ways of communicating?

Read the previous coverage and wonder, with literally thousands wonderful books out there, why it's too much to ask that educators choose books that do NOT contain gratuitous profanity and adult themes.

Consider finally, who are these school boards elected to represent?

More often than not they seem to merely rubber stamp the choices of educators...

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Here are some of the arguments that parents may encounter when they challenge books (e.g. The Chocolate War, Fat Kid Rules the World, The Laramie Project, or Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes) for their problematic ideological messages, the nature and extent of profanity and obscenity, or the nature and extent of depictions of sexuality, followed by brief responses. Parents who challenge a book because of language need to bear in mind that many of the parents and teachers who approve of these objectionable texts use the same obscene and profane language commonly and casually in their personal lives, even with their children, though they will not likely admit it. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that they will concede that profanity and obscenity are objectionable, for conceding that would constitute a personal indictment:

1. Parents are taking words out of context, and it is the context that justifies the language.

Response: There is no context that renders frequent and excessively obscene language acceptable in texts selected by public school teachers for minor children. In other words, the extreme nature and pervasiveness of obscenity renders the entire text unsuitable for public schools whose mission is to cultivate the best behavior in students.

2. Profane and obscene language is justified because it represents authentic adolescent language.

Response: If the author is justified in using this language to portray authentically adolescent culture and the emotional experiences of adolescents, then surely students are justified in using this language in school in order to be authentic and to express adequately and accurately their emotional truths. Teachers too should be allowed to use this language because it also represents authentic adult language and experience. In fact, society often erroneously and euphemistically refers to profanity and obscenity as "adult language."3. Counting numbers of swear words constitutes an immature or silly evaluative mechanism.

Response: Taking into account the extent of foul language is neither silly nor juvenile. There is a substantive difference between one incident of "f**k" and one hundred. The incessant drumbeat of obscenities desensitizes readers to their offensiveness and normalizes their use. Moreover, although adults may distinguish between literary use and endorsement, many adolescents do not.

First, the prevalence of foul language should be taken into account. Second, the nature of the obscenity or profanity should be taken into account. Third, who is using the offensive language should be taken into account. Is it the hero or the antagonist? Fourth, parents and educators should realize that books with profuse obscenity and the willingness of educators’ to teach them convey the message that there are justifiable reasons and contexts for using extremely foul language.4. Since students mature at different rates, some students are mature enough for these texts. Parents, therefore, should decide what is appropriate for their child.

Response: Whoever makes this argument should be asked to define maturity. If they are referring to intellectual development, then it is irrelevant to the discussion in that parents who challenge texts because of language, sexuality, or pro-homosexual messages, are not doing so because they find the material intellectually inaccessible.If educators are referring to emotional maturity, meaning that students are emotionally stable enough to read and discuss emotionally difficult material without being traumatized, that too is likely irrelevant, for few parents who object to language, sexuality, or pro-homosexual messages are concerned that their children will be emotionally traumatized.

The concern conservative parents have is with moral development. They recognize that all adolescents, including even mature high school seniors, are not yet adults. They are still constructing a moral compass. They are impressionable, malleable, and much more vulnerable to external influences than are adults whose moral compass is likely fixed and stable. For a teacher to contend that there is any 12-18 year-old whose moral compass is fully developed, mature, and fixed represents an ignorant and hubristic assertion.

Every parent should be able to send their child to school confident that their beliefs regarding decency and morality will not be challenged by educators or curricula, especially since this confidence can be secured without compromising the academic enterprise. It is even more important today in a culture in which profanity, obscenity, and sexual imagery relentlessly bombard our youth that schools stand as one of the last bastions of integrity, civility, and temperance.

5. A small minority group is trying to impose their morality or religious beliefs on the whole community.Response: Since schools are ostensibly committed to honoring the voices of all in the community, there is no justifiable reason to ignore the concerns of even minority voices. Schools should respect the values of people of faith, especially when doing so does not compromise student learning. In addition, objections to obscenity, sexuality, or pro-homosexual messages can be either religious or secular in nature. If objections to, for example, the use of obscenity represented the imposition of religious belief, then why do virtually all school districts have policies against its use by students in school? It is the mark of a civilized society to honor the concerns and values of people of diverse faiths and to aspire to decency.

6. There are other options for those who object to particular texts.Response: First, opting out of reading an assigned class text results in a diminished, isolated academic experience for students. But equally important is the issue of whether taxpayers, even those who have no children in school, should be required to fund the teaching of offensive material. A text like Angels in America contributes to the debasement of an already vulgar culture, and schools should never in any way contribute to the baser aspects of culture. This does not mean that texts must avoid looking at the flaws and evil that afflict man. Rather, it means that we should choose texts that look at the presence of ignobility and evil but do so in ways that inspire, edify, chasten, and point us in the direction of truth, beauty and righteousness. Texts like Angels in America do none of this.

7. Refusing to offer this book will lead ineluctably to the world of book-burning à la Fahrenheit 451.Response: This is an irrational, alarmist, specious canard. There is simply no evidence that including in selection criteria the nature and extent of obscene language or sexuality, or a consideration of highly controversial political messages will result in wholesale book banning. There is, however, ample evidence, that a steadfast refusal to ever take into account these elements will result in a slippery slide down the other slope to the use of corrosively vulgar and polemical texts.

8. This book has won prestigious literary awards or has been approved by the American Library Association (ALA).

Response: This justification begs the question: Who serves on committees that award prizes or review texts? And this argument calls for a serious, open, and honest examination of the ideological monopoly that controls academia and the elite world of the arts that for decades has engaged in censorship of conservative scholarship. To offer as justification for teaching a text the garnering of literary prizes or ALA approval without acknowledging that those who award the prizes and belong to the ALA are generally of the same ideological bent is an exercise in sophistry.

What school committees, departments, administrations, school boards, the ALA, the National Education Association (NEA), and organizations that award literary prizes desperately need is the one form of diversity about which they are least concerned and to which they are least committed: ideological diversity.

9. Kids relate to this book and, therefore, it captures and holds their interest.

Response: If this criterion has assumed a dominant place in the selection process, then teachers have abandoned their proper role as educators. Appealing to the sensibilities and appetites of adolescents should not be the goal of educators. There’s another word for capitulating to the tastes of adolescents: it is called pandering. Schools should teach those texts that students will likely not read on their own. We should teach those texts that are intellectually challenging and offer insight, wisdom, beauty, and truth. We should avoid those that are highly polemical, blasphemous, and vulgar.

10. To remove this text constitutes censorship.

Response: Parents who object to the inclusion of texts on recommended or required reading lists due to obscene language, sexuality, or highly controversial messages are not engaging in some kind of inappropriate censorship. All educators evaluate curricular materials for objectionable content, including language, sexuality, and controversial themes. The irony is that when teachers decide not to select a text due to these elements, the choice constitutes an exercise in legitimate decision-making, but when parents engage in it, they are tarred with the label of “censor.”

Furthermore, virtually no parents advocate prior restraint and only rarely are they asking for the removal of a text from a school library. Rather, parents are suggesting that it is reasonable to include the nature and extent of profanity, obscenity, and sexuality when selecting texts to be recommended and/or taught to minors in public schools.

Are those teachers, administrators, and school board members who disagree with that suggestion saying that they will never take into account the nature and extent of profanity, obscenity, and sexuality? If they are claiming that they will never take into account these elements, then parents should reconsider their fitness for teaching.

In all four years of high school English, students read approximately 28-32 books. From the dozens and dozens of texts available, it seems unlikely that any student’s education would be compromised by teachers, in the service of respect for parental values, comity, and modesty, avoiding the most controversial texts.

A community of a dozen Mennonite families in Quebec is ready to leave the province rather than succumb to provincial government demands that would require their children to be taught evolution and homosexuality. While the government sees its actions as nothing more than enforcing technical regulations, many view the case an intolerance of Christian faith.

The community runs a small Mennonite school, out of a church in Roxton Falls, where eleven children in elementary grades were expected to commence studies this fall. Subjects include reading, writing, math, science, geography, social sciences, music and French. However, they are not schooled in evolution and homosexuality (sex education) as demanded by the official provincial curriculum.

Quebec Education Ministry spokesman Francois Lefebvre told LifeSiteNews.com that the province has two requirements for approval of private schools. "That the teachers are certified and that the provincial curriculum which is mandatory in all Quebec schools is followed," he said.

Ronald Goosen, a spokesman for the families, told LifeSiteNews.com that the community rejects both demands. With regard to certified teachers, he said, "we have pulled our students out of public schools and by asking us to have certified teachers they are asking us to send our teachers to public school. So basically they're asking something of us that we don't feel we can do."

...Given other incidents in the province, Goossen was concerned that if they don't comply, children might be taken from their families by social workers. In 2002, social workers in Aylmer removed seven children from a Mennonite family because the family used spanking as a form of discipline.

This move is an enactment of the Ministry of Education's decision last year to shut down schools that don't teach the full government-approved curriculum. The Ministry threatened to shut down private Evangelical schools that didn't want to teach evolution and sex-education (See http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/oct/06102404.html ).

The UK Independent revealed today that Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has acquired a major stake in a homosexual activist publishing company. SEC Filings reveal that Cascade Investment, which invests Gates' money, is among a group of investors that has bought a $26.2 million share in PlanetOut, a publishing company which runs Out magazine as well as the dating website Gay.com which is used primarily for sexual "hook-ups" and all-gay RSVP Cruises.

According to Pink News, the new investors, including Mr Gates, will collectively own a majority of the shares in PlanetOut, likely to total 56.3 per cent of the company.

Despite Gates' extensive funding of population control, he had until this point been considered relatively conservative. With this move, however, he has crossed over into areas that are highly controversial even in the mainstream media. The online material put out by the company features hard core homosexual pornography.

It's difficult also not to note a consistent connection between homosexual activism and pornography...

...In the section, “Historical Bathroom Activism,” the TLC claims that “Bathrooms have long been a place where people with authority, power, or wealth have denied access to other people. Over 150 years ago, only wealthy people could afford bathrooms in their homes and poor people were forced to use insufficient, non-hygenic public toilets.”

TLC claims that segregating men and women in different bathrooms is akin to racial segregation before the Civil Rights Movement.

The premise of the TLC report is that: “Safe bathroom access is not a luxury or a special right. Without safe access to public bathrooms, transgender people are denied full participation in public life. For example, transgender youth may be unable to complete school due to a lack of safe bathroom access. Due to bathroom discrimination in the workplace, transgender people may quit or be fired from their jobs.”

In addition, the TLC claims that transgender people often avoid public restrooms and “develop health problems as a result.”

TLC claims that women’s and children’s safety are at stake because men’s and women’s restrooms are segregated by sex. According to TLC logic, putting a “women’s restroom” sign on a door doesn’t prevent men from entering those restrooms to harm women. In fact, having a women’s symbol on a restroom actually tells a predator where to look for women.

TLC also claims that children will be safer when gender neutral restrooms are created in businesses and public places. Why? Because parents will be free to take their children into any restroom to guard their safety.

In 1974, when I left the States to teach in "godless" France, the cultural revolution was a Left coast/San Fran' phenom', and America was still "Christian." When I returned in 1991, I was in for culture shock, but still never imagined what lay ahead.

One man warned us. In 1978, Pastor Charles Mcllhenny recorded his experiences after his church fired a homosexual organist (When the Wicked Seize a City). Church property was repeatedly vandalized and his family almost killed by a firebomb. "Law enforcement" never found the culprits. Mcllhenny used San Francisco as a striking example of what America might become. Are we "goin' to San Francisco?" as the 60s hit song asked?

Last May, San Francisco elected Theresa Sparks president of its Police Commission. Theresa is a transgendered Vietnam veteran, twice-divorced and father of three grown children. In 2003 s/he was both the chief executive officer of the sex-toy retailer Good Vibrations, and the city's Woman of the Year. It may be "only San Francisco," but remember that Nancy Pelosi, congresswoman from San Francisco, is third in line for the presidency. As the 1967 song predicted: "All across the nation such a strange vibration…There's a whole generation with a new explanation…"

75% of 18-34 year olds, and 72% of Democrats consider homosexuality an acceptable alternative lifestyle

Homosexuals represent only 2% of the population, but culture unwinds once sexuality is "liberated." The worldwide unwinding is fanned by the media. The Los Angeles Times recently ran a front-page article on gays in sport, concluding that it is no big deal. The BBC World Service series on "Coming Out," communicated a similar no-big-deal message. Is it a big deal?

The mainstream media wants you to believe that a conservative evangelical church deep in the Bible belt has refused to bury a Gulf War veteran because he was gay. Some in the Christian media want you to believe that the church hasn’t shown the love of Jesus to a dead man’s family. Neither charge is anywhere near the truth.

Here are the facts. High Point Church, a non-denominational church in Arlington, Texas, had been praying for Cecil Sinclair after Cecil’s brother Lee (the only member of the Sinclair family who was a member of the church) requested prayer for his brother who had been awaiting a heart transplant.

When Cecil Sinclair’s health became critical last week, the family called a staff member from the church to be with them at the hospital. In the hospital, in the moments immediately following Mr. Sinclair’s death, the family asked the staff member if the church would be open to holding a memorial service for their loved one. The staff member assured them the church would be available to help the family in any way appropriate, a response any pastor would give in that situation.

Cecil was not a member of High Point Church, yet this church selflessly and sacrificially ministered to his family in the wake of his death, preparing and delivering food for the family and one hundred relatives and friends, along with many other expressions of kindness. The church offered to produce a video retrospective of Mr. Sinclair’s life for use during the memorial service. When the family provided the pictures to the church it was then that the church learned of their intention to make the memorial service a celebration of Cecil Sinclair’s gay lifestyle. According to a statement on the High Point Church Web site, one of the photos provided by the family showed a man touching another man inappropriately, along with other unsuitable photos.

The family also requested that “an associate of an openly homosexual choir” officiate at the service and that the homosexual choir sing during the service. “It became clear to the church staff that the family was requesting an openly homosexual service at High Point Church—which is not our policy to allow,” the statement on the church’s Web site said. After initially agreeing to host the memorial service, the church informed the family it could no longer do so based on the direction the family wanted to take it. The church then secured—and paid for—another location for the memorial service, which the family declined. The church also produced the memorial video without the inappropriate photos.

Before you read this column, be warned that it may contain material you find offensive. But what you might find truly shocking is that all the potentially offensive material comes straight from the pages of the July issue of Redbook magazine.

Editor's note: This column contains excerpts taken directly from Redbook magazine. While readers may find some of these excerpts offensive, we felt it necessary to retain some of them to convey the coarseness of the excerpts -- but imperative to abbreviate others.

I've referred in the past to modern-day women's magazines as a bellweather of cultural decline, but I think it's worth repeating. Sitting in a doctor's waiting room leafing through magazines, as I was recently, can end up being an eye-opening experience. And even if you can handle it ... or just decide to stop reading ... imagine your young teenage daughter picking up that innocent-looking women's magazine. What behavior will she end up believing society condones?

When I was a child, I remember looking through the magazines my mother had around the house. I don't think she ever gave a second thought to what I might come across, nor should she have. My, how things have changed.

But back to Redbook's July issue ...

In a section titled "Handbook: Your Sex Life," there are 56 suggestions for how to "feel sexy in a flash!" Here's the subheading: "Whether you've got a free hour and a hot partner in crime to share it with or just a precious few moments to yourself, it's a snap to unleash your inner vixen with these steamy to-do's."

Here are some samplings, categorized by how much time you have:

If you've got 10 seconds:"Alone? Sneak a peak at yourself!""Make eye contact with a cute stranger."

...Sex, titillation, and yawning at immoral behavior have always sold magazines. But they used to be the kind that came in brown wrappers, not the kind that sit on kitchen tables and in doctors' waiting rooms.

The greater the diversity in a community, the fewer people vote and the less they volunteer, the less they give to charity and work on community projects. In the most diverse communities, neighbors trust one another about half as much as they do in the most homogenous settings.”

“What happens when a liberal scholar unearths an “inconvenient truth”? This is the conundrum explored by the Boston Globe in a commentary that reveals the downside of “diversity” as reported by – amazingly enough – liberal scholar and Harvard political scientist, Robert Putnam.

Professor Putnam became well known when he published “Bowling Alone” in 2000, which revealed that there has been a decline in civic engagement in America over the past several decades. Possibly prompted by the results of his earlier study, Putnam conducted a massive new research project designed to discover whether or not the cherished “ethnic diversity” and “multiculturalism” beliefs of left wing ideologues hold true.

After interviewing approximately 30,000 participants in a wide-ranging survey, his results unmistakably fly in the face of one of the main tenets of secular liberal dogma. Professor Putnam’s study is the largest one ever carried out on the topic of civic engagement. Its conclusions indicate that the more diverse a community is, the lower the level of civic engagement and shared sense of community cohesiveness.

Michael Jonas writes in his Boston Globe report: “The greater the diversity in a community, the fewer people vote and the less they volunteer, the less they give to charity and work on community projects. In the most diverse communities, neighbors trust one another about half as much as they do in the most homogenous settings.”

Read the rest of this article.Only a liberal college professor would be surprised by this.

The logical question is: given what we now know about the effect on our society, should we really make multiculturalism a goal?And now, a not so surprising observation, from a Breakpoint column by Chuck Colson:

Putnam wrote that "in many large evangelical congregations . . . the participants constituted the largest thoroughly integrated gatherings we have ever witnessed." Putnam observed that "for part of the week, there is some identity that is more important to them than their ethnic identity . . ." In these churches, people are not "hunkered down" but are "quite comfortable around each other."

Of course, that's because underlying all the racial and ethnic diversity is their essential unity in Christ. This is why Christians can acknowledge and even celebrate the diversity within their churches without fear of "hunkering down"—the person sitting next to you may be different from you in many ways, but he is the same where it counts.

Our politically correct postmodern notions of "diversity" can't offer that assurance, since they deny things like universal truth. So when your neighbors are concerned about a problem like this, tell them where they can come to find the right balance: Join you in church.

In a time when the San Diego Padres have chosen to promote homosexuality over Christianity, the kids of San Diego are desperately counting on real men like Mike Farmer to step up to the plate each and everyday to be the real heroes in America.

...Mike Farmer never set out to cause trouble for anyone when he became a Christian. However, once the Padres decided to expose the kids of San Diego to homosexuality at Petco Park, Farmer decided that the team needed some trouble from their number one fan. Farmer made his feelings known regarding the Padres and their promotion of homosexuality at a July 10, 2007 San Diego City Council Meeting. Mike demonstrated his passion for protecting the kids of San Diego in a powerful three-minute clarion call that was reminiscent of the founding fathers during the early days of the Revolutionary War.

Farmer told the members of the San Diego City Council that it was the first time he had ever spoken at city hall. "Mike's speech was one of the best that I've ever heard. What is so incredible is that it was the first time he'd ever spoken at the city council," said Hartline, a veteran of many city council meetings. You can watch the entirety of Mike Farmer's speech by logging onto:

"We as parents have a right to determine if and when we choose to discuss issues of sexuality with our kids, not the gay pride organization," declared Farmer. Mike's speech culminated with a powerful challenge to the city councilmembers who claim to be Christians, particularly during elections when the Christian vote is needed to win. Farmer stated, "There's Christians on this council. I'm looking at a couple. Every year you vote for this gay pride celebration. It is time for you to reconsider your vote on this matter!"

...When he became a Christian approximately thirteen years ago, Mike Farmer didn't know much about the Bible or Christian activism. He never even imagined that in 2007 he would find himself in the middle of a battle to save the kids of his city. Yet, that is where Mike's love for his son and his commitment to Jesus Christ have taken him.

At the same time that Mike married his loving wife Suzie they were studying Christianity under the Bible teaching of an up-and-coming young pastor by the name of Leo Giovinetti.

...Over the years, Giovinetti has encouraged his thriving congregation to stay steadfast in their commitment to some very basic Christian principles. "Read your bible every day and take what you learn and enter the story," Pastor Leo reminds the 1,500 weekly attendees of Mission Valley Christian Fellowship.

Enter the story means active involvement in the culture. And that is exactly what Mike Farmer has done in his very public stand on behalf of the young kids and their families in San Diego County. Hopefully thousands of other dads in San Diego will follow the example of Mike Farmer and go to battle for the youth of their city. In a time when the San Diego Padres have chosen to promote homosexuality over Christianity, the kids of San Diego are desperately counting on real men like Mike Farmer to step up to the plate each and everyday to be the real heroes in America.

Without allowing members to vote on the matter, the executive committee of the National Education Association (NEA) decided to advance aggressively the homosexual agenda. The decision was made at the association’s annual meeting in Philadelphia.

First, the committee voted to put the weight of the NEA behind an effort to pass federal hate crimes legislation, a measure that would greatly expand federal power and lead to the silencing of moral opposition.

Second, the executive committee voted to boost the NEA’s Web site to “include all resources” devoted to homosexual causes.

The third resolution urged NEA members to push to make sexual orientation training a requirement for earning a license to teach.

They continued their financial support of homosexual groups. Click here for report from OneNewsNow.com. Click here for the report of the NEA Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Caucus.

It matters little to the NEA that Johnny may be unable to read and write, as long as he learns to support same-sex marriage.

The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said it will no longer require on-duty crews to drive parade routes, a move that follows complaints by four firefighters who said they were harassed during a gay pride event.

The department will rely solely on firefighters who volunteer to ride engines used in parades, The Associated Press reports.

Four firefighters filed complaints with state authorities Aug. 1 seeking the right to press sexual-harassment claims against the city's fire department. The men — who were ordered by their battalion chief to participate in a parade on July 21 — said they were taunted with sexually explicit comments and gestures along the route.

Charles LiMandri, the west coast director of the Thomas More Law Center, is representing the firefighters in their legal claims against the city. He said the wording of the new policy may not go far enough.

“What happened to these dedicated public servants was inexcusable," he said recently. "The city should have known from past experience the kind of offensive activities that go on at this event. This was a clear case of sexual harassment in violation of state and federal law as well as the city’s own code of conduct.”

The 4.8 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) continues to loosen its standards on homosexuality and clergy celibacy.

During its weeklong assembly that ended Saturday, members voted to encourage church leaders to "refrain from or demonstrate restraint" in disciplining gay clergy who are in committed relationships.

The thousand church members, meeting at Chicago's Navy Pier, voted down a measure that would have ended the church's celibacy requirement for gay clergy.

"To refrain from discipline in the home is bad parenting, but we're about to do so in Christ's Church," said Jaynan Clark Egland, president of WordAlone Network.

WordAlone is a Lutheran grassroots network concerned that the ELCA is losing its Christ-centered focus.

This isn't the first sign that the ELCA no longer has faith in the God of the Bible. Live birth abortions are performed at ELCA Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn. Apparently the ELCA believes that Jesus just isn't enough for mothers of Down Syndrome and Spinal Bifida babies either...

In reaction to a threat by gay rights groups to bring hundreds of protestors to town, the superintendant of a New Jersey school district reverses an earlier decision to cancel plans to perform a pro-gay play.

OCEAN TOWNSHIP — Superintendent of Schools Thomas M. Pagano on Thursday reversed an earlier decision and said "The Laramie Project" will be performed at the high school this fall, ending a weeklong controversy that had gay rights groups promising to bring hundreds of protesters to town.

The play based on the true story of the murder of Matthew Shepard, a homosexual college student, and the aftermath, had initially been canceled by administrators, who said its provocative themes might prove a disruption to the district.

Sadly, the Matthew Shepard murder story is true. However, it has since been conclusively revealed that Shepard's murder was never about his homosexuality. It was a robbery for money and drugs. Gay activists, with the help of the main stream media, turned Matthew's name into a battle cry for gay 'rights.'

In addition, the "Laramie Project" contains sex, violence, profanity, and anti-Christian elements. It is not appropriate for high school students.

In explaining his reversal Thursday, Pagano who had said previously that he would not be pressured into changing his mind, said reaction in the community was overwhelmingly in favor of the play going on and that no one had expressed support for the initial decision.

No one? That seems rather unlikely...

Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, a statewide gay-rights group, said the district's about-face represented one of the most jubilant days in the organization's history.

"This victory means that the students of Ocean Township High School will see a play that will change their lives," Goldstein said. "And that will go such a long way in bringing mutual respect and tolerance for all people from the area. This is also a huge victory for academic freedom it says a lot to the power of the gay/lesbian community and our allies."

Yes. It does say a lot about the power of homosexual activists and the cowardice of our leaders - which gives them that power...

As of Thursday, high school drama coach Bob Angelini got "The Laramie Project" reinstated for the first three nights in November, and also won additional concessions from the superintendent.

First, the play will not only be viewed by parents and community members over three nights, but will be shown to the entire student body during school hours. Angelini also will with individual parental permission take the show on the road outside the district, under the West Park Players moniker, the name of the high school drama club.

"We had a blunt conversation," Angelini said about a talk with Pagano.

Shown to the entire student body during school hours? Taking it on the road? That must have been a VERY 'blunt' conversation.

These aren't just 'concessions', they are appeasement - to the 'God of All Things Gay' and his angry priests...